Report That Newcastle Have Missed Out On Another Transfer Target

Written by Dr. Ed Harrison

5:20pm Thursday, June 8th, 2017

Commented 52 times

Sky Sports Italia are reporting that Italian Luca Caldirola has turned down the opportunity to join Newcastle United on a free transfer and has opted instead to stay at his German club Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga.

The 26 year-old center-back could have been a free agent at the end of the month and would have been a bargain buy for Newcastle, but instead he has decided to sign a new two year deal to stay in Germany.

This could even be a move by the Bundesliga club to protect their investment and Luca could still be sold in the next year or so, but this time for a fee and not for free.

26 year-old Italian defender Luca Caldirola of Werder Bremen We were first linked with this player late last month and at the time he looked a decent buy for Newcastle.

If Rafa is to bring in up to eight first team players this summer he needs to pick up two or three players on really good deals since the funds available will largely be needed for some bigger stars this summer.

The 26 year old center-back has played for all the Italian youth sides through U21 but he has been out injured most of last season with ligament damage.

He finally returned earlier this year, but he has since come back into the first team with 5 appearances this year, but he then fractured a bone in his foot and was out injured again at the end of last season.

Cardirola started his career at Inter-Milan and was there when Rafa Benitez was the manager in 2010, so Rafa will have seen what a player he was like at that time, although that was over six years ago and he was loaned out for the 2010-2011 season.

Luca can also play at left back, so he is a left-footed center-back which is quite rare these days. although that’s what our current center-back Ciaran Clark is.

He left Internationale for Cesena back in 2012 before joining Werder Bremen the next year and he was sent out on loan in the 2015-2016 season where he played 34 times for German Bundesliga club SV Darmstadt.

He has played 46 times for Werder Bremen with one goal and he could have been a great value as a free agent for Newcastle.

52 comments so far

Courtesy of the Shields Gazette So HMRC have effectively stolen NUFC material…..but wont have had a sneaky peak at them. Couldn’t make it up.

A legal challenge has been launched by Newcastle United over documents seized from the club by officials conducting a tax probe. A High Court judge has banned members of the HM Revenue and Customs investigation team from examining, without the club’s consent, material taken in a raid carried out in April under search warrants issued by Leeds Crown Court. Mr Justice Supperstone, sitting in London, said on Thursday the ban would continue until resolution of the club’s application for a judicial review against HMRC. He directed that any material being retained by HMRC which is identified as attracting legal professional privilege must be returned to the club. He also directed that the legal action involving the Magpies, who have just secured promotion to the Premier League, must return to court on June 22. It is expected the club will then have to show that it has an arguable case to take to a full judicial review hearing. At Thursday’s interim hearing no details of the grounds of the challenge were revealed in court.

A lot of bloggers are saying it’d be a good deal getting free transfers from the like of ManC, Chelsea etc. and cos we’re not paying a transfer fee paying them the same as they are getting at these clubs. I would question this thinking as it would mean the incomers are getting more money than the current players, I can’t see them being very happy with this arrangement and could be a big cause of unrest in the dressing room.

To everyone whining about the lack of transfers, remember this – Rafa isn’t playing a football manager video game where you click a few buttons and you get your player. He’s having to deal with clubs moving the goalposts on their valuations of players because they know we have big money available. And then there’s the nasty agents wanting a big slice of the pie and sticking their oars in to complicate things.

There hasn’t been a whole lot of transfer activity in the league yet, so be patient. Rafa knows what he’s doing. I know patience isn’t really a thing these days with everyone wanting everything done instantly or they throw a hissy fit, but let’s just sit back and see who we have available to play when the transfer window finally closes. I’m expecting Rafa to have a canny little squad of players at his disposal when the season starts.

I can’t believe the people on here moaning at the lack of progress in this window. In Rafa Benitez we have a genuinely world class manager, with one of the most impressive CV’s in football that we could have actually secured as manager. When comparing him to the utter dross we’ve had over the last few years like clueless Steve and John Carver banging on about being the ‘best coach in the premier league’ the fact people are moaning is laughable. Yes the progress may not have been as swift as we were perhaps led to believe it would be, but its still very early days in the window. Someone with Rafa’s experience will no doubt be working round the clock to sort out our top targets!

Am I missing something from the blog today. I don’t really see much wining, just people expressing there opinions which everyone is entitled to do. Or has something happened on here that I’m not aware of ??

Ibiza Buenas noches senor Cheers my friend for clearing that up. I thought we had yet had another blog meltdown today.

Shirebrook Sorry mate. Still got my gaffer head on lol! Yeah all good mate, How’s you this evening?? Had a word with Slab world who I had an account with. And he’s only doing cream and riven 450’s mate. I’ll ring Stepho’s up and see if they can do anything when I get a chance. Are we still awaiting our first major transfer breakthrough. it seems to have all gone quiet?

This is why I only pay passing calls on the blog during the silly season. You need to bear in mind that of those we’re supposedly interested in, only about one percent is real! (OK, a fraction more, but you get my drift). For the vast majority it’s simply agent talk, trying to bump interest in their player. Most are simply none starters, of which Rafa has no interest. That said, he can’t deny it every time or he’d get nothing else done. Be cool, players he wants will eventually arrive – or not. You can’t force anybody to sign.

Shirebrook. I made the journey to SJP for every game for years mate, from Chesterfield. It’s not easy, but it can be done. I put an advert in one of the travelling fans forums and quickly filled the empty spaces in the car. That makes life a lot easier mate. Even if it means picking people up en route. Everyone chips in and makes it worthwhile all round. It is a long journey and shyte when you’ve lost driving home, but once into the routine it becomes worth the effort. There’s a forum designed just to help travelling fans hook up, but it won’t register in my head just now! Someone will recall it though. Car sharing is ideal imo. Worked for me for years. You know you want to, after all. 🙂

I don’t understand why everyone is so hung up on when the elusive “transfer window” opens.

Players can sign at any time, they just sign a pre contract then the formalities and registration are completed at a later date. Clubs can sign a player at any time, hence why clubs have already signed players since the end of the season.

The main reason for the lack of activity in general is the same as every year for the end of May/beginning of June, people are taking a well earned vacation, plus the internationals! Not because “the window isn’t open”.

Lews, that’s why my visits are brief mate, during the summer anyway. People panic, then it turns into the blame game, when really, most of it isn’t real! I just don’t see the point. Everyone’s working hard. Everyone wants the same result – despite the conspiracy theories – and rumours are rumours that won’t stop. We’ll sign players we want, not who the media tell us to sign.

I can feel your passion mate, I know you want to badly. Just suggestions, but paying monthly interest free is a cracking way to pay. No lump sum. Then, games you can’t attend you can always sell online. Most games likely to be sell outs, so should be plenty takers. Someone on here might take them off you. As I said, car share is the way. You’d be surprised how many respond – I was. Downside is it is a commitment – unless you share driving duties. I was the only driver, so I had to be reliable. Upside is – every home game, or the vast majority of them. 🙂

League Placement

health update

I was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer in February 2017 and completed four months of chemotherapy in late July and will continue to have hormone treatment.

The cancer spread in the bones but it has been stabilized and has not spread further.

I am still recovering from some of the side effects of the chemo treatment - it's mainly severe fatigue and exhaustion.

Stage 4 cancer is not curable so I will continue to have cat scans and bone scans every four months to ensure the cancer is not spreading.

It is as it is - these things happen - and I will do my very best under the circumstances.

Ed Harrison

Comments

The purpose of the comments is to allow Newcastle United fans and others to express their views on the news of the day concerning the Newcastle United Football Club.

In general, we'd ask you to be civil towards other readers and refrain from obscene language and any comments on religion, ethnic groups or politics.

The key to all of this is to be respectful to other readers in expressing your opinion.

Please let's make this work - and let's help the Newcastle United Football Club become great again.

That's all we ask, and why we created this site in the first place back in 2007.

Ed Harrison

Kacper Tylenda Website Designer

One of our avid readers Kacper Tylenda from Poland was the person who came in during April, 2017 and redesigned this web-site from top to bottom.

We think he did a fantastic job to modernize the site with the roll-out on Thursday May 18th surprisingly smooth.

I am so appreciative of his help.

Kacper is starting his own business in web-design so if you want a website built or know of people who want to redo their sites in any way – here’s his portfolio.

football club

It’s the noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging, the pride in your city. It’s a small boy clambering up stadium steps for the very first time, gripping his father’s hand, gawping at that hallowed stretch of turf beneath him and, without being able to do a thing about it, falling in love.